Staf is Scotland’s national membership organisation for all of those involved in the lives of young people leaving care. Our vision is that the wellbeing and success of young people leaving care across Scotland is indistinguishable from that of theirs peers in the general population. In everything we do we live our values: We Listen, We Care, We Love.

How Staf Started

Staf was established in 1998 in response to the overwhelming concerns that frontline practitioners and managers had about the major difficulties care-experienced young people faced during their fragile transition to adulthood and independent living.

The introduction of a membership subscription scheme in 2002 enabled Staf to bring together organisations, practitioners and managers from across the public, voluntary, and private sectors to work together to improve the life chances for all of Scotland's care-experienced young people. Staf now represents over 70 diverse members.

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What we do

We strive towards our collective vision of a Scotland where the wellbeing and success of young people leaving care across Scotland is indistinguishable from that of their peers in the general population. In 2019 we launched a new three-year strategy where you can find out more about how we seek to make this a reality.

Our work focuses on four key pillars:

1. Influence policy and practice

• We run dedicated quarterly focus groups on continuing care, employment, educatio and training for care leavers, and supported lodgings. These are all free to attend for Staf members and give you the opportunity to engage with colleagues across Scotland, as well as The Scottish Government
• Staf has representation on a range of committees, including presenting at Scotland Policy Conferences keynote seminar: Improving provision for children in care in Scotland, representation at numerous meetings; UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing meeting, Children’s Sector Strategic and Policy Forum, Drugs Death Taskforce Reference Group, Care Inspectorate consultation on Family Based Care Framework, Social Security Scotland Champions Board, alongside regular meetings with CELSIS, CYCJ, The Promise and Who Cares? Scotland. 
• We continue to be a member of the More Than My Trauma Steering Group and were involved in a series of webinars during 2021.
• We are working wth Aberlour and care experienced people to champion a Universal Basic Income pilot for Care Leavers. 

2. Creating platforms for care leaver and practitioners’ voice

• Project Return, supports care-experienced people, and workers, to create meaningful and transformational change in how we understand trauma in the care system. The young people leading are currently leading on the Pets in Care project working with  the Care Inspectorate, PDSA and RSPCA and organising a national day of conversation between the workforce and care experienced young people. 
• In conjunction with the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ), we are working to amplify the voices of care and justice-experienced young people, with our Youth Justice Voices project. We are currently working on a Whole Systems Approach Guidance for young people in the justice system and were recently involved in the creation of the No Knives Better Lives 'Nae Danger' game for young people aiming to tackle knife crime. In addition they were consulted on the UNCRC incorporation into Scottish Law and were instrumental in ensuring the Care Leavers Bursary became a year round payment.
• We have designed a tool which supports the prioritisation and bench-marking of relationship-based, collaborative practice as part of our ‘Building Relationships’ project rebranded the Real Toolkit, and we supported our Youth Facilitator, Shannon Brown, to realise her dream – with the launch of Shannon’s Box in East Ayrshire Council to support young people entering care. The boxes have since been rolled out to West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow City Council.

3. Encouraging networking and collaboration to increase good practice

• We have introduced local authority members’ forums to provide a specific and safe place to discuss practice in relation to the statutory responsibilities of delivering services for care leavers – free for all local authority managers.
• We have held a number of large scale conferences including Staf Summits and our National Conferences. All of which enabled the workforce to come together, in person or remotely, to learn from our speakers about current best practice and policy developments. 
• The Staf Enquiries service enables any member to contact us regarding practice issues, which we can then share with our broad membership, connecting you with colleagues to improve practice

4. Delivering learning and development opportunities

• We offer bespoke training and consultancy work tailored to your organisational needs on areas such as: working with care-experienced young people; trauma-informed practice; trauma and stress management; and leadership training. Most recently we have worked with Argyll and Bute Council to deliver well received trauma training pilots. 
• We run national conferences and training events each year, with discounts available to members.
  
• The Real Toolkit contains many guides written by care experienced people and the workforce to improve relationship-based practice in your organisations and communities. 
• A 'Learning Channel' which will host the legacy work of the Life Changes Trust is currently in development as is an Open University Course on Trauma informed and relationship based practice.

Find out more about becoming a member